POLICE MAKE THEIR PRESENCE KNOWN AT FUNERAL OF FAMILY

Even as several hundred mourners gathered Monday to pay final respects to the Greenacres family shot to death on the side of Florida's Turnpike, detectives stood at a distance, a reminder that the brutal killings remain unsolved.

Asked if the slayings were drug-related, Brownsville police Sgt. William Dietrich stood by a lieutenant's earlier statement to the San Antonio Express-News that it was "obvious" drugs were involved and "the situation speaks for itself."

More than a dozen relatives served as pallbearers, wearing white shirts and black pants that mirrored the black coffins of Jose Luis Escobedo Jr., 28, and his wife Yessica, 25, and the white coffins of their sons, Luis Damien, 4, and Luis Julian, 3.

The men carried the four coffins in two trips, with music from a six-piece mariachi band accompanying their solemn march.

The St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, which is investigating the case, has identified no suspects or motive in the killings and released no new information Monday.

Several detectives from St. Lucie and the Brownsville Police Department were present for the funeral, videotaping the crowd and stopping unfamiliar vehicles as a precaution against trouble.

Jose Manuel Escobedo, 28, Jose's brother, has been a federal fugitive since he left prison March 7 and failed to report to a work camp to continue serving a 10-year sentence for conspiracy to sell cocaine.

Investigators declined to comment on whether his record, and drug charges in the pasts of other family members, including Jose Luis himself, an aunt and his brother-in-law, could be related to the deaths.

The burial rites performed at the gravesite Monday were brief, but family and friends stayed at Buena Vista Burial Park for about two hours until the bodies had been lowered into the family plot and covered with a sea of flowers. Some of the mourners wore white T-shirts that featured pictures of the victims and read "In Memory, Escobedo Family."

"I think it's very appropriate to be here," said Myra Castillo, 37, of Brownsville, a childhood friend of Jose who attended the couple's wedding in 2003.

Jose's coffin was lowered into the ground first, followed by one of his sons. The body of his wife was then lowered, with the coffin of the second child placed on top of hers.

Earlier in the morning, a private funeral service inside a chapel included a baptism for the younger boy, who had not been baptized before his death.

The crowd of several hundred circled the caskets for the graveside service. After two priests sprinkled holy water on the caskets and said a blessing, the family gathered by the grave to put individual roses on the caskets. That was when many broke down, crying and hugging each other.

"It's one of the hardest I've ever had to do," said funeral director Roy Vento, who was on hand to comfort the family during the service.

On Sunday night, a standing-room-only crowd packed the chapel where the bodies were on display for an evening recital of the rosary. Family and friends arrived in the cold with flowers and received a memorial card with a wedding photo of Jose and Yessica, a poem and a picture of the two children.

The Escobedos, Brownsville natives who had lived in Greenacres for only a few months, were shot dead and found the morning of Oct. 13 off the turnpike in Port St. Lucie. Their Jeep Cherokee was found abandoned in West Palm Beach three days later.

The St. Lucie County detectives were expected to leave Brownsville today, Dietrich said. After that, Texas detectives will assist as needed, he said.

"If we find out any information here, we'll pass it along to them," Dietrich said.